If I am to be rightly related to others, I will first be rightly related to God. Romans 12:1-2 tells me to present myself to God as a living sacrifice by being inwardly renewed and outwardly transformed. Romans 12:3 tells me that if I am to be rightly related to others I will have a proper view of myself, “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” (NASU) If I think too highly of myself I will not be properly related to God or others. If I think too lowly of myself I will not be properly related to God or others. How shall I arrive at a proper view of myself? Psychologists might tell me to look within myself, to find myself. Personally, I do not have the stomach for that kind of examination. I do not like what I find. The Bible presents a different and better way.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 spells out the problem, “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.” (NASU) If my heart lies to me, how shall I have a sober, sound, right estimate about myself? That is like a criminal investigating his own crime and conducting the ensuing trial. Psalm 139:23-24 gives the solution, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.” (NASU) I need God to examine me and then lead me. Romans 12:3 tells me that God has given me a measure of faith so that I can trust His assessment of me. This verse begins a paragraph which gives a description of a body of believers. Verses 4-6 tell us that we are all gifted differently. Thus the point of verse 3 is that in light of all the different gifts and functions that are found in any and every local church, we are to have a proper view of our own self. God is not honored by me having an inferiority complex or a superiority complex. God has gifted us differently but has given to each of us an appropriate and corresponding measure of faith.

My first duty that flows from my relationship with God is to have an accurate view of myself which is to realize that everything I am and have is a gift from God. Even the faith to trust God is a gift from Him. A sober look at myself is simply realizing that God is the Giver of everything. Thinking too highly of myself results in pride and arrogance which dishonors God and alienates people. Thinking too lowly of myself means I refuse to find my worth in Christ and that I am not satisfied with how God has gifted me. Thinking too lowly of myself almost always means I selfishly refuse to shoulder the responsibility that God gifted me for. ………..pastorsteve8800@gmail.com